International compost awareness week

Composting News is pleased to join 15 other companies as a co-sponsor of International Compost Awareness Week. The annual public campaign emphasizes the benefits of using compost to improve or maintain high quality soil, to grow healthy plants, reduce the use of fertilizer and pesticides, improve water quality and protect the environment.

This year, International Compost Awareness Week, spearheaded in the U.S. by the Composting Council Research Foundation, will be recognized May 6-12. This year’s theme is Compost! Building a Better Future.

International Compost Awareness Week is the largest and most comprehensive education initiative of the compost industry. Started in Canada in 1995, International Compost Awareness Week has continued to grow as more people, businesses, municipalities, schools and organizations are recognizing the importance of composting and the long-term benefits of organics recycling.

Throughout the week, community and business events are held to encourage and celebrate composting from backyard piles to large-scale commercial facilities. Events include tours of compost manufacturing facilities, school gardening programs, compost workshops, lectures by gardening experts, compost give-away days and other promotions.

Each year, the program includes a themed poster contest (see page 19), which encourages artists throughout the world to create a design sharing the importance of composting and using compost. The winning poster will be displayed by companies and organizations nationwide.

This year’s winning poster was created by Talia Mitre, a high school junior from Rockville, Md.

“I have always cared about the environment and I love doing design work,” Mitre said. “When I found out that there was a contest combining both of these I jumped at the opportunity. I wanted to show on my poster how composting can really help our world become beautiful in the future. To achieve this, I created a globe shaped as a flower growing out of a pile of compost. Compost takes what many people consider as trash and turns it into something both beautiful and useful for our planet.”

Almost 300 people from more than 30 countries entered this year’s contest.